Sarah Michelle's Secret Life

Buffy may be retired but Sarah Michelle Gellar's still kicking butt. She has a scary movie, The Grudge, out this month and a happy marriage to fellow actor Freddie Prinze Jr. Listen in as she chats about her private world.

By
Jennifer Graham

Nov 30, 2004

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When Sarah Michelle Gellar arrives at her Cosmo photo shoot in New York City, she's still pumped up from her previous night out—a Kid Rock concert she and some pals caught at a nightclub called Crobar. "Omigod, he is so talented," she says. "He played every instrument!"

Back in her Buffy the Vampire Slayer days, this outing would have been hard to make happen. "I loved playing that character," she says, "but when you're on a TV show, you don't get to just pick up and spend time with your friends. You're always so busy."

Getting to rock out on a weeknight isn't the only thing that's changed since Buffy ended a year and a half ago. Sarah Michelle's also had more time to spend with her hubby, Freddie Prinze Jr., whom she met on the set of 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer—especially since they've shot a few more movies together recently. They teamed up for two Scooby-Doo films, and they have another movie out this February: Both provide voices in the animated Happily N'Ever After.

But the other upside of not being bound to a TV series' rigid shooting schedule is being able to pick fun projects in far-flung places. Last winter she set off for Tokyo and spent three months filming a remake of a Japanese horror film (in English) called The Grudge (which hits theaters in October). Here, the sizzling starlet talks about her passion for the Far East, her superstable marriage to Freddie, and life in general since Buffy.

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Cosmo: After Buffy, what were you looking for in a role?

Sarah: It's sort of an interesting time for me now. When I made the decision to leave the show, it was because it was time for me to grow and challenge myself a little bit, so it was important to me that I didn't choose roles just to do them. A lot of times [in the movie industry], women are relegated to playing the wife or girlfriend or daughter. When you've played Buffy—who's such a strong female role model—it's really hard for another female character to compare to her. [So] I waited for something that called to me. And of all the scripts that I read at the time I finished Scooby-Doo 2, The Grudge was the only one I really wanted.

C: The movie is a remake of a 2003 foreign horror film. What appealed to you about it?

S: It was a combination of things. I've always been fascinated by Japanese culture, and Freddie and I are obsessed with traditional Japanese thrillers. I already had a definite understanding of the language, because pretty much the only thing we eat is sushi, and we have a lot of friends who are Japanese sushi chefs. So it was the chance to live and work in Japan and experience all of that.

C: Are you famous in Japan?

S: No! One of the other amazing things for me was that Buffy is just now hitting in Japan. So it was sort of the one place I've been where I was [just like] everybody else.

C: Do you feel like you don't live a normal life in the states?

S: Normal is such a hard word to use, because everyone's idea of normal is different. Real is what the word is. I think you either live a real life or you live a weird celebrity pseudolife. I think I lead a really real life.

C: But it has been a long time since you've been able to walk around unrecognized, right?

S: I was in Bali once, and my cabdriver called me Buffy. So this [experience in
Japan] was pretty amazing. I was able to take the subway, walk around, stand on a line and wait, and be part of it, just like everybody else! It was almost like getting five years of my life back.

C: Were you homesick at all?

S: You're always homesick. There's always something about home that's special. But I'm not a things person. I'm not attached to my things.

C: So did you do a lot of sightseeing while you were there?

S: People have asked me if I'm even in the movie, because I spent so much time sightseeing! My castmates [including
Roswell's Jason Behr and Carnivle's
Clea DuVall] and I would meet down in the hotel lobby every morning we had off, and each day someone would plan something different to do. And then my friend Seth Green came out to visit, which was crazy fun.

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C: Did you bring home any interesting keepsakes to remember the trip by?

S: Yes. My husband wanted me to bring him back a samurai sword for his birthday. He kept joking with me [on
the phone], "Don't come home without my samurai sword!" And I'm laughing, thinking, Can you imagine me in the airport with the samurai sword, looking like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill?

C: So how did you get it home?

S: An assistant director on the movie introduced me to the guy who made the samurai swords for The Last Samurai. The guy's a living national treasure. It takes him a year to make a sword. He helped me buy a sword and do the paperwork to have it sent back to the U.S.

C: Did Freddie appreciate it?

S: [Laughing] Not as much as I think he should have!

C: Buffy was such a physically demanding show. Are you less fit now that the show is over?

S: I actually go to the gym much more now than I did when I was on Buffy. I like to stay fit, because [that's when] I feel really healthy. But I never worked out for any kind of image. People have said to me, "Do you starve yourself before photo shoots?" And I always say, "No way.! That's what airbrushing is for. I had french fries last night."

C: You've been married to Freddie for two years now. Do you prefer being married to being single?

S: That's hard to answer, because you're going to upset somebody when you answer a question like that. It was the choice that was definitely right for me, and we're incredibly happy. But it's not always the right choice for [everyone]. Some people feel like you have to cement your love. Freddie and I have always felt like we were totally committed to each other whether we were married or not.

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C: Has your relationship changed since you got married?

S: I don't know if things have necessarily changed. I mean, if you love someone and you choose to spend the rest of your life with that person, that's your partner in every way. Freddie and I experience everything together and grow together, and we learn new things about each other and about ourselves every day.

C: Now that Buffy is over, you've had more time for yourself. What have you learned personally?

S: You know, this was a discussion that my friend and I were having this morning. We work really hard, and you have to remember once in a while that you can actually stop working and appreciate things. I think that this industry in particular is so fast-paced that you keep saying, "I'll take vacation later." Sometimes later never comes. I'm definitely leading a much slower life now that I'm not working every single day on a television series.

C: Do you and Freddie plan to have kids?

S: Absolutely. It's something I'd eventually love. In the meantime, I just borrow all my friends' kids. It's seriously the best birth control in the world. I'm so tired afterward, I'm like, Okay, maybe in another two years.

C: You've said you like to entertain friends at home. Do you prefer small get-togethers or big blowouts?

S: I love my friends. They're my family. So whether it's a big dinner party or people just coming over to hang out, I just love to spend time with them.

C: What kind of a host are you? Do you cook for hours before the guests arrive?